Pairing nine World Cup contenders with their college football counterparts ahead of 2026 tournament
When it comes to fandom, few can rival international soccer fanatics.
It's hard to find a group of people more fervent than the ones who support a World Cup powerhouse.
Luckily for us Americans, we have college football, which is basically the closest thing to European or South American soccer when it comes to just how insane we get about it.
The two sports actually parallel each other better than either fan base would like to admit, so today I wanted to take a look at nine contenders in the 2026 World Cup and compare them to their college football counterparts.
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We are looking at these teams and programs through a historical lens, and judging them based on their history, fanbase, trophy case, and more.
This way, if you are a college football fan trying to catch World Cup fever, you can pick who you want to root for based on how they match the college programs you like or don't like.
It's not an exact science, but let's have some fun with it!
Let's start with an interesting case on either end.
The Netherlands' national team is fun to watch, has produced plenty of good players, has cool, eye-catching uniforms, and has come close a few times while never winning it all.
Sounds a lot like the Oregon Ducks to me.
They did win the Euros back in 1988, which is basically like winning a souped-up conference title, but their best finishes in the World Cup are a few second-place finishes in 1974, 1978 and 2010.
They even invented a fun attacking style of soccer with Total Football back in the 1970s that revolutionized the game, much like Chip Kelly did with his spread attack in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
The Tigers and La Roja have a lot in common in the sense that both are considered powerhouses in their respective sports and while a lot of fans think of them as traditional blue bloods at this point, they both found their successes fairly recently.
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Clemson won a national championship back in 1982, but their dominance came in the 2010s under Dabo Swinney, while Spain started their own dominant run at the 2008 Euros before winning the World Cup in 2010 and bookending that with another Euro win in 2012.
Even though Clemson fans feel as though they've fallen on hard times, they just won a conference championship back in 2024, coinciding perfectly with Spain's win at the 2024 Euros.
Spain has all the talent they need to win the World Cup again in 2026, but the same could have been said for Clemson in 2025, so let's hope for Spanish soccer fans' sakes that they don't parallel each other that closely.
Every college football fan knows two things about the Texas A&M Aggies: they always recruit well and have a ton of top-level athletes on their roster, and they don't have a damn thing to show for it.
Sounds a lot like Belgium, who are currently in the midst of their second "Golden Generation," with a roster full of players littered all over top-flight European club teams.
However, aside from an Olympic gold medal from more than 100 years ago, the Red Devils have a very empty trophy case.
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Belgium came into tournaments like the 2016 Euros and 2022 World Cup highly ranked and expecting to make a splash, only to leave way earlier than anyone anticipated.
Fans of both have had to endure constant razzing for underperforming on the big stage.
Both USC and Brazil are considered powerhouses in college football and world soccer, respectively, producing some of the greatest players to ever live and capturing countless trophies in the process.
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These two programs are some of the most recognizable brands in their respective sports, and have young and old fans who remember them as winners.
However, both are still in search of that "next title," having won it all last in the early to mid 2000s before experiencing dry spells in the late 2000s through the 2010s.
From Pele and Marcus Allen to Neymar and Reggie Bush, you can't tell the story of the World Cup or college football without Brazil and USC.
Much like their rivals Brazil, Argentina is one of the blue bloods of the sport of world soccer.
They have a tradition of winning similar to their South American brethren, but their recent history is even more impressive than Brazil, having won it all back in 2022.
Argentina is a modern-day powerhouse much like Alabama, and their fans are quick to remind everyone.
That air of superiority is well earned for both, though I doubt you'll find other fans of South American teams chanting "CON-MEM-BOL" the way a Vandy fan would chant "S-E-C" while the Crimson Tide were winning all of their titles.
Argentina has produced the most Ballon d'Or winners, but they've all been from one player (Lionel Messi) and have come fairly recently, similarly to Bama producing all four of their Heisman winners since 2009, the most from any school in that stretch.
I know soccer fans will chastise me for calling the United States a "World Cup contender," but they are the host nation, and the vast majority of you reading this are American, so I couldn't leave them off the list.
That being said, America is very similar to the Kentucky Wildcats' college football program for many reasons.
For starters, Kentucky is a powerhouse program in a different sport (basketball) much in the same way that the United States dominates other sports while being woefully behind the other world powers in soccer.
Kentucky also punches above its weight every once in a while despite not having the same caliber of players compared to some of the other teams it goes up against, which pairs nicely with America's "plucky underdog" attitude.
Both fanbases have their pockets of delusional devotees that believe their success in other sports means they're good at all of them, but most Kentucky football and U.S. Men's soccer fans have accepted their places and just hope for the best.
Titles in multiple different decades and went through a long dry spell before winning another one in the modern era, that sounds to me like the Georgia Bulldogs.
Germany and Georgia at their best are both hard to top when it comes to powerhouses in their respective sports, and both represent some of the best-run programs in soccer and college football, respectively.
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The Bulldogs haven't had much success recently in the College Football Playoff, similarly to Germany, whose last two trips to the Euros and most recent World Cup appearance ended way earlier than they had hoped.
Fans from both leagues are writing off the two juggernauts, but much like I said with Georgia, I think it's a little early to pour dirt on Germany as well.
Also, Kirby Smart and former longtime German manager Jogi Löw have similarly bad haircuts, so there's that.
France comes into the tournament ranked No. 1 in the FIFA rankings, and always seem to carry a ranking with them into every tournament they enter.
That's usually a result of having the best players, and though they don't always live up to the lofty expectations placed on them, when they put it all together, they are a sight to behold, winning the whole thing fairly recently in 2018 and coming close to repeating in 2022.
You could say the same for the Ohio State Buckeyes, who always sit near the top of the recruiting rankings as well as the preseason polls.
They have a recent title to show for it, but they also have some seasons where they probably should have won it all and grossly underperformed.
Both fan bases also have devastating losses in high-pressure games in which they lost their best players, with Les Bleus losing the 2006 World Cup Final to Italy thanks to Zinedine Zidane being sent off and Ohio State losing the 2022 CFP Semifinal after wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. went out with an injury.
The parallels are uncanny.
England is famously a soccer-obsessed nation, and with how much they talk about their team and how good their players are, you would think they won a World Cup or even a Euro more recently.
However, their last and only World Cup title came all the way back in 1966, but every four years we are led to believe this is the year the lads bring the Cup back home.
Does that sound familiar to college football fans? Because it does to me.
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Notre Dame similarly won a national title back in 1988, and have been chasing that high ever since as other powerhouses have risen to prominence along the way.
Despite their shortcomings in the postseason, the Fighting Irish always come into the following season with sky-high expectations.
Speaking of which, the Irish are likely to be a top-five team in the preseason polls for 2026, mirroring England's top-four FIFA ranking on the eve of the 2026 World Cup.
Both fan bases are clinging to a past that is slipping further and further away from them, but it only takes one good year to birth a new generation of believers.